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The video game cost/gain problem
 
Thunder
#1 14-04-2012, 01:19:29 AM
Red Faction (poo pooty FPS) -> Red Faction: Guerilla (walk around on Mars, not for PS2)
Red Dead Revolver (boring 3rd person shooter) -> Red Dead Revolution (explore the wild west, also not for PS2)

Is this just a coincidence? Is it not possible to fit a decent sized landscape in a DVD? I mean, they have at least 4 GB to work with! Don't tell me the PlayStation 2 can't handle a sizable landscape- just look at Shadow of Collossus. Would it be too much to ask to take a game like that and make it actually interesting and relevant, like to put it on Mars, or let you shoot people? I'm talking big open areas, not divided up into little levels. Shoot whoever you want, explore wherever you want, objectives OPTIONAL. I'm not saying it has to be as complex as Fallout 3, but it should be at least as big as Fallout 3. They could fill it up with proceedurally generated crap. Just look at Legend of Zelda- all that map space on the NES! So size is clearly not the issue.

I think the problem is their cost/gain ratio. Since PS2 games aren't allowed to have any bugs with the strict approval criteria, it takes more time to make big open landscapes. And since they'd only be selling a PS2 game for $20-$30 anyways, since nobody wants to buy an outdated game, they would not get a return on their investment. That's why all of the good games have some excuse to be expensive. Either that or the game company tries to cater to a guaranteed demographic.

The perfect example of this is Grand Theft Auto. It gives you all kinds of freedom to explore a big landscape, but what's the catch? Boom boom buy my drugs lololol dumbunicorn demographic. Those people will pay any kind of cash for anything. So, they can charge an arm and a leg for the game, and there's the gain for the cost.

But why can't game companies look at it from another angle? Make an expensive to develop game, and sell it cheaply to a very broad demographic. This is the downfall of consoles like the PS3 and XBox 360. It's high sales VS high price. And since nobody wants to buy video games, which is why GameStop is having such a hard time, the game companies just make their games overly expensive to make up for that. It seems a little extreme though to make a console that assumes that every customer is an early adapter who will shell out $60 for a game. Movies don't cost that much, and they cost more to make, which could only mean that more people see movies than play video games.


yourethunder
Thunder
#2 14-04-2012, 01:23:48 AM
The solution: SELL MORE GAMES.

There. See? Problem solved. If developers can sell more games, then the problem is solved.


yourethunder
O-ZONE
#3 14-04-2012, 01:28:38 AM
new, a better idea, a new better idea: disposable games. play all your game favorites like portals and simcopter, but only one session then you're done. then, if you want to play it again, you buy it again, full price. it's different from rentals because nobody else can play it but you, and only once, so there's a very special sentimental element to it as well


tupac found alive at montana horse ranch
Thunder
#4 14-04-2012, 01:36:52 AM
I heard somewhere that video game sales were on the rise. I bet that means that the amount of money went up, not the amount of units sold. That to me sounds like a natural progression, one that would happen in all industries. But the article also said that video game sales were surpassing movie sales, which could only mean that movie sales are going down! But that doesn't make sense, because movies are priced cheaper than video games, which could only mean that they're selling a lot of them, unless the price of video games is so significant compared to the price of movies that the number of units sold hardly even matters, but now I'm confusing myself.

I think at the end of the day ALL industries are going down, not just video games or movies, but it really sucks for the consumer. And it's scary to think what is happening to things like food products if this is happening to the entertainment industry. I bet it costs less to feed 10,000 people than to make a movie catering to 10,000 people, and only because the ingredients are crap. I don't know, maybe I just have such a perspective because of the town I live in. And let me tell you about it. The "downtown" section has only two or three blocks that get any kind of daily activity, and not even on the weekends. Not even a card shop can stay in business. The fish store is going out of business, the computer store is going out of business, and the county jail is right there one block away! Not even kidding!


yourethunder
O-ZONE
#5 14-04-2012, 01:37:28 AM
blah blah blah blah blah blah blah <- you


tupac found alive at montana horse ranch
Thunder
#6 14-04-2012, 01:40:04 AM
new, a better idea, a new better idea: disposable games. play all your game favorites like portals and simcopter, but only one session then you're done. then, if you want to play it again, you buy it again, full price. it's different from rentals because nobody else can play it but you, and only once, so there's a very special sentimental element to it as well

I thought that a quantity over quality solution was better. The thing about a game is that they make it take forever to beat, trying to build up some kind of obsession, so how would you feel if the disc just decomposed and you stopped playing?

By the way, they already do this for some movies. Not even kidding. Disposable, decomposing discs.


yourethunder
Thunder
#7 14-04-2012, 01:42:30 AM
blah blah blah blah blah blah blah <- you

I've got an hour to kill. So, I'm posting here.


yourethunder
JC VON BASTARD
#8 14-04-2012, 01:51:02 AM
If it makes you feel any better, I did contemplate reading whatever you are writing about, but I couldn't bring myself to do it




Thunder
#9 14-04-2012, 01:56:31 AM
If it makes you feel any better, I did contemplate reading whatever you are writing about, but I couldn't bring myself to do it

Summary: Boo hoo video games are too expensive and I don't wanna buy an XBox 360 waaa. Also the economy.


yourethunder
Cirus
#10 14-04-2012, 01:59:32 AM
I read all of this and was going to write a serious reply but I couldn't actually tell what your point was.


cirus206
Thunder
#11 14-04-2012, 02:13:17 AM
I read all of this and was going to write a serious reply but I couldn't actually tell what your point was.

Quote
Summary: Boo hoo video games are too expensive and I don't wanna buy an XBox 360 waaa. Also the economy.

It was also some general advice for the video game companies. Sell more games! To do that, price your games cheaper.


yourethunder
JC VON BASTARD
#12 14-04-2012, 02:16:22 AM
I also like video games and money!!! But there are plenty of great games that are also pretty cheap so you are a dummy




Thunder
#13 14-04-2012, 02:18:40 AM
I also like video games and money!!! But there are plenty of great games that are also pretty cheap so you are a dummy

Your reply was timely and rhymely.

Could you name those games?


yourethunder
JC VON BASTARD
#14 14-04-2012, 02:19:05 AM
Tetris: FREE




Thunder
#15 14-04-2012, 02:20:50 AM
Tetris: FREE

Depends on the platform. I thought Nintendo owned the copyright anyways.

EDIT: Also, "free" now applies to any old NES or Atari game, thanks to emulation. And without any legal problems either, because they're so old. But out of all of the games I've tested, I must say there are a lot better games on Atari than Nintendo, but they're so short!


yourethunder
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